My Unexpected Valentine
by etmuse
Summary: Ianto had been unsurprised when Jack told him he didn’t celebrate Valentine’s day.


Ianto had been unsurprised when Jack told him he didn't celebrate Valentine's day. Jack and conventional romance didn't exactly go hand in hand; Ianto suspected they never had and never would.

His lack of expectations didn't mean that he didn't harbour a tiny seed of disappointment. It would, perhaps, have been nice, just this once, to act like they were a normal couple.

Of course, he knew that if they _had_ planned something, the Rift would no doubt have chosen that moment as a perfect time to spit out something particularly nasty and vicious. Most of the dates he and Jack had actually made it on since his return had been somewhat spur of the moment suggestions, and more often than not had involved fish and chips along the bay and time spent sitting not-too-close to the edge of a roof somewhere.

Which was normally just fine with Ianto – he was even slowly getting used to the roof thing. He wasn't particularly big on the whole hearts and flowers routine himself, but Valentine's day was supposed to be the exception, wasn't it?

He and Jack had ushered Gwen out of the door before lunchtime on Valentine's day. Rhys had called the day before and shared his plans to surprise Gwen with a day and a half at some spa place, and begged them firstly not to spill the beans to Gwen and secondly to make sure that – unless unforeseen circumstances prevented it – she was out of there by noon.

In typical fashion, after everything being quiet for days, an alert came in less than an hour after they'd sent Gwen home to her husband. Jack and Ianto went after it themselves – they weren't going to call Gwen in unless it became absolutely necessary.

They managed to handle things themselves – just; they ran themselves ragged all afternoon, and by the time they collapsed at Ianto's flat at nearly 9 o'clock, the existence or not of Valentine's day was the furthest thing from Ianto's mind.

So when Jack pushed him out of the door at 6pm the following evening with the instruction to go home and 'get gussied up', Ianto wasn't really sure what was going on.

Nevertheless, he complied with Jack's request, showering quickly and digging a silky burgundy dress shirt from the back of his wardrobe.

Jack showed up at his door a little over an hour later, his usual attire foregone in favour of smart black trousers and a deep blue shirt.

"Ready to go?" he grinned when Ianto opened the door.

Ianto nodded, slightly hesitant. "Just let me grab my coat."

"Come on then." Jack was all smiles.

"Okay, what's going on here?" Ianto asked once they were settled into the SUV and heading, it appeared, into town.

"Why does something have to be going on?" Jack asked innocently, his gaze sliding to take Ianto in for a fraction of a second before he looked back at the road.

"Well, for a start," Ianto stated, "you're not in your usual clothes. There has to be a reason for that. And you told me to dress nicely and _picked me up from my flat_."

Jack remained stubbornly silent until they pulled up in a small car park near the centre of town.

He climbed out of the car and waited while Jack pressed the remote to lock it, but shook his head when Jack held out his hand. "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's happening."

Jack sighed and folded his arms. "I know we're a bit out of practice, but I thought even you would recognise a date when you saw one."

Ianto's eyebrows lifted. "Jack, this isn't like any of the dates we've ever been on."

"So I wanted to do something different for a change," Jack said, holding out his hand again. Ianto, still a little unsure, stretched out and took it. "You'd be surprised, actually, how easy it is to get a last minute reservation somewhere nice on the _fifteenth_ of February," Jack continued as he tugged Ianto towards him and started walking.

Ianto shook his head as he let Jack lead him down the street. "Jack, is this…? Are you trying to…?" He frowned slightly as he tried to work out what he was actually trying to ask.

Jack came to a halt. "Just because I think that 'Valentine's day' is a ridiculous notion aimed at conning people out of hard earned money doesn't mean I have a problem with dinner in a nice restaurant," he said, looking steadily at Ianto. "And February the fifteenth seems as good a day as any other to have one."

Ianto blinked. He thought there might actually have been a point in there somewhere, after a fashion. "Okay," he said mildly, shrugging slightly. "Lead on."

* * *

Later, much later, after far too much food and a little too much wine and just the right amount of languorous sex, Ianto rested his cheek against the top of Jack's head and, as he drifted to sleep, decided that maybe Valentine's Day really was overrated after all.


End file.
